Qatar hosted some thrilling World Cup football matches. The tournament was typified by the final where a 35 year old Leo Messi finally lifted the Jules-Rimet trophy after a penalty shoot-out with France, the reining champions.
Whilst the football was entertaining, many matches lacked the buzzy atmosphere normally created by touring fans. In London, the pubs were flat. Lager was served in glasses rather than plastic beakers. Fewer tense-tipsy men screamed in vain at the screen and bums generally remained on seats (sparing punters the typical ‘beer shower’ which inevitably follows crowds of people excitedly jumping to their feet with near-full pints). Most notably of all – ‘three lions on a shirt’ wasn’t blasted through the sound system before and after the games. ‘Sweet Caroline’ didn’t make a single-appearance at my local.
England fans, it seems, weren’t that excited about football coming home:
Pub’s sales were admittedly 8.1% larger than November 2021. But that’s less than landlords might have hoped for. Concerns about COVID kept people away from venues last November, so selling 8.1% more pints this year should have been straightforward. Not least as during the Russia World Cup, pubs saw around a 20% increase in sales.
The only data which looked reasonably strong were the TV viewing figures. 19.4 million people watched France beat England in the Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter final, whilst 19.6 million watched England beat Sweden in the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter final.
That’s unfortunate. Broadcasting rights account for around 56% of FIFA’s revenue, and so it’s this last data point they will care most about. Their bottom-line won’t be affected by the decision to award the tournament through corrupt means. It’s the pubs and fans that suffer most, as they struggle to summon the enthusiasm for a winter tournament only made possible by the fatal labour of migrant workers and energy-intensive air conditioning in an undemocratic country.